Category: Stay Inspired

It’s leg day and you want to target those butt muscles. Do you know which moves are the best to get the job done? Typically speaking, you won’t just access the muscles that make up your seat, but will need to work your hips and thighs as well. Not that this is a bad thing. Those muscles all work together for the same movements and all complete the look and function of your posterior. Read more “Best Exercises to Target the Muscles in Your Butt”→

A new WW (formerly Weight Watchers) report examined the challenges in being able to stay fit over the holiday season. That report estimated that from Thanksgiving day through New Year’s Day, the average American will gain between seven and ten pounds. It did not point out specifically whether that weight was in the form of fat or if it included water retention, but that is still a substantial difference at this time of the year.

Learning how to overcome gym anxiety is a bigger problem than most people realize. In fact studies are beginning to show that many people, particularly women, avoid the gym out of fear of being judged. One survey after the next reveals that most women avoid going to the gym for exactly that reason: because they feel judged.

This intimidation factor is keeping women from being able to benefit from their local gyms. Do you feel anxiety creeping over you before you head in for a sweat session? Do you skip it altogether and exercise at home or somewhere else? Fear not. It is possible to overcome gym anxiety to get the diet support you need.

How to Know You Need to Overcome Gym Anxiety

You are far from alone if you experience these sensations. Do you feel stressed when you step into the weight room? Do you feel like you don’t belong? Are you always wondering if you’re doing something right or if you look weird? Are you worried about sweat stains, bunching clothing or freaky odors?

Many people – and most women – feel those same strains. It keeps a huge number of people from going at all. In fact, simply not looking fit enough is often enough to make someone feel too embarrassed to head to the gym. They simply don’t know how to overcome gym anxiety.

It is common enough that even some top trainers need to use techniques to overcome gym anxiety. They, too, suffer from some of these uncomfortable symptoms. It’s not enough to stop them from going to the gym and working out. However, it can make them feel very uncomfortable.

How to Overcome Gym Anxiety

The good news is that there are some great ways to overcome gym anxiety and to do it quickly. The first step is simply to realize that everybody is not watching you. They’re focused on what they’re doing. Most of them are thinking so hard about their own workout – or possibly about their own gym anxiety – that they really don’t notice what you’re doing or how you look.

If you need to overcome gym anxiety, the first thing that you need to remind yourself is that you’re the only one who really cares about you while you’re there. The employees at the gym and the personal trainers will tell you that nobody is stopping long enough to judge what you’re doing the entre time. Everybody sweats, everybody stinks, and everybody needs to learn when they’re new.

If there’s anything that should help you to overcome your gym anxiety, it’s to remind yourself of this very important lesson. You’re not in elementary or high school gym class anymore. The bullies aren’t there. Everyone just wants to get their workout done, go home and have an awesome post-workout snack!

The next time you debate whether or not you have the time to take a vacation, consider the scientific reasons you should. There is a tremendous amount of science out there in support of taking time off from your everyday life. Moreover, heading out to a new place is also supported by these studies.

When it comes down to it, choosing to take a vacation doesn’t just feel good. It is good for you. Consider the top 3 scientific reasons you won’t want to skip out on that trip this year.

Scientific Reason #3 to Take a Vacation: Fitness

Research has shown that when you head off on vacation at least once a year, you’ll be better rested and have more energy. In fact, people who go away from work at least annually are more productive the rest of the time they’re there.

This goes for your fitness, too. Stepping away from your regular fitness routine to enjoy a fun holiday can refresh you for when you return. You won’t lose any meaningful progress during the time you’re away, but once you’re back, you’ll have the drive to boost your performance.

Furthermore, giving your body a thorough rest every now and again is fantastic for muscle recovery. Use your time when you take a vacation to try new activities and come home ready to get even more out of your usual fitness routine.

Scientific Reason #2 to Take a Vacation: Motivation

A study published by the American Psychological Association showed that taking trips away from everyday life can reduce stress and anxiety. When you’re not feeling the side effects of stress and anxiety, it’s far easier to feel motivated.

If you’ve found that your drive to keep up with your life has dwindled, consider taking a trip to get it back. Even better, the effects that you gain will continue for much longer than the vacation. Therefore, they’re not just something you’ll enjoy while you’re away.

If you really want to excel at what you do, taking some time away from it may be the key. This is true for just about any goal you’re pursuing. Whether you want a promotion at work or you want to get fit and lose weight, it still applies.

Scientific Reason #1 to Take a Vacation: Health

Taking time off work to head out and relax or go on adventures in a new place is fantastic for your health. Research has shown that people who take regular vacations complain less of backaches, headaches, and heart irregularities. Other studies have revealed that those who take trips have improved cardiovascular health.

You know that eating healthy, nutritious foods is the best thing that you could do for your body. After all, nutrition is the foundation to good health, right? But let’s be honest, the healthiest foods aren’t always the tastiest, so staying on track could be really tough. For example, rather than reaching for the broccoli, you might reach for the spaghetti instead. Read more “7 Ways to Stay Motivated to Eat Right”→

Isn’t it funny how the right sayings for weight loss can be what truly motivate you? Even beyond visualizing how great it will feel to achieve your goal? Better than giving yourself a pep talk every morning.

The perfect sayings for weight loss can help us to get to the core of what’s driving us. That said, it’s up to you to find the ones that will work for you. Just because your friend or sister finds a saying inspirational, it doesn’t mean it’s the one for you.

Let these Motivational Sayings for Weight Loss Inspire You

• Slow and steady wins the race.

The first of these sayings for weight loss reminds you that you can learn from the tortoise who won the race against the hare. If you want to drop the pounds and maintain that lost weight, you need to do it gradually and consistently. Rapidly lost weight leads to regained pounds and huge disappointments.

• You’re the only one who can change your life. No one else can do it for you.

Recognizing that you’re the one with the ability to change your life is powerful. Stop looking to, and waiting for, other people to improve your health and lifestyle. If you don’t make the choice to change, nothing will happen. You’re the only one in control of yourself.

• Today’s struggles make you stronger tomorrow.

Among the motivational sayings for weight loss, this one is an important reminder of why you’re going through these challenges. It’s hard to lose weight. It can be tough to change your lifestyle. Breaking habits and forming new ones isn’t always easy. That said, you’re going through it now because it will make you stronger in the future. With that strength will come greater ease.

• Food should satisfy a hunger more important than that in your belly.

Your body has hungers for your food. That said, among the sayings for weight loss, this one reminds us that eating should do more than satisfy your grumbling tummy. Your body has nutritional needs that must also be satisfied. Your cells, organs and systems hunger for macronutrients and micronutrients that help it function at its best.

You’ve come so far in your weight loss journey, and you’ve been able to make some amazing accomplishments along the way. You’ve lost a lot of weight, and you’re so close to your goal. Unfortunately, though, you still have a last few stubborn pounds to get rid of. Well, you certainly are not alone. It is well known that it can be especially challenging to lose the last 5 to 10 pounds, but it isn’t impossible either. Check out the tips below to revamp your strategy and shed those pounds so that you can finally meet your ultimate weight loss goal.

Try These Methods to Lose the Last 5 to 10 Pounds

1. Eat More Food

Okay, we know that this may sound really strange and counterintuitive, but eating more might actually be the ticket if you want to lose the last 5 to 10 pounds at last.

How to eat more to lose the last 5 to 10 pounds:

At the beginning of your weight loss journey, you likely decided on how many calories you would cut from your daily diet to lose weight. To lose the last 5 to 10 pounds, though, begin decreasing the size of that caloric deficit. In other words, eat more calories. That’s it!
Once you begin consuming more calories, you might find that the number on the scale starts to go down again. You might finally be able to get over the weight loss plateau that often comes with attempting to lose the last 5 to 10 pounds.
How is that possible? Well, there are several reasons why you have been having trouble losing those last few pounds:

Even though you think that it is a good idea to reduce the number of calories that you consume daily, your body thinks that it is going into starvation mode, so it will do whatever it takes—including slowing down your metabolism—to keep the extra weight on your body to use as fuel.

When you restrict calories and, in turn, restrict energy by eating less, your body does feel the stress of it all. As a result, the stress hormone known as cortisol increases. Cortisol could suppress the hormone leptin, which helps decrease feelings of hunger. It could also boost the breakdown of muscle for fuel, while encouraging the preservation of fat. This makes it that much harder to lose the last 5 to 10 pounds.

How many calories should you aim for?

If you want to try slightly increasing your caloric intake every day to see if that will help you lose the last 5 to 10 pounds, do so modestly. For example, you could eat anywhere from 200 to 300 more calories every day. If you are currently consuming a total of 1,500 calories, you could increase that to around 1,700 calories. If that still doesn’t seem to help, you can then move up to 1,800 calories per day. Just keep in mind that you might need to keep adding calories in this manner until you reach the point at which you start to lose the last 5 to 10 pounds by overcoming this tough plateau.

2. Take Your Workout Routine to the Next Level

If you have been following the same workout routine throughout your weight loss journey because it has helped you achieve great results, it might be time to take it up a notch. This is especially true if your current workout schedule is making it difficult to lose the last 5 to 10 pounds.
In addition to calculating the number of calories that will get you to that sweet spot where you are nourishing your body and getting energy without starving yourself, focusing on the effectiveness of your exercise schedule is another way to overcome this common weight loss roadblock.

Here’s how to make your workout routine more effective:

When you increase the amount of physical activity that you participate in throughout the week, you might finally start to see some results, and you might finally be able to lose the last 5 to 10 pounds as well. That’s because the additional activity could burn even more calories, while also building up your muscles at the same time.

Follow the FITT strategy, which stands for Frequency, Intensity, Type, and Time. The goal will be to burn an additional 100 calories every day, as doing so might be just what you need to lose the last 5 to 10 pounds.

Whether you increase the amount of time that you exercise, boost the intensity, vary the workouts that you do by adding in some new challenges, or you exercise on additional days during the week, the goal is to burn off at least 100 more calories. This could be as simple as walking for an additional 20 minutes at a faster pace. Easy, right?

Why does this work?

If you have hit a weight loss plateau and you are finding it hard to lose the last 5 to 10 pounds, it might be a sign that you have also hit a workout plateau. Put simply, when you do the same workouts all the time, your body actually becomes even more efficient, so fewer calories are burned overall. Therefore, if you can take your exercise routine to new heights with some surprisingly simple modifications, you could start to build more metabolism-boosting muscle, and you could burn more calories to help you lose the last 5 to 10 pounds.

3. Check Where You Can Make More Adjustments

Finally, to lose the last 5 to 10 pounds, you might just need to analyze what you have been doing to figure out where you can make additional adjustments. Small tweaks to your diet, supplements, and your daily routine could make a big difference in your ability to hit your target weight.

Here are a few adjustments you can make:

Take a look at what you drink on a regular basis. Are you having a lot of juice? Consider how much sugar and calories are in a single serving. As another example, perhaps you like to have a large latte to give you a boost of energy in the morning. You might be surprised by how many calories you can cut by simply having a smaller serving or by using less cream and sugar. Little changes to the things that you drink every day could help you cut unnecessary calories and sugar when you are struggling to lose those last few pounds.

Check your portion sizes to ensure that you have stuck with your ideal portions for every meal. Many people end up increasing their portion sizes without realizing it, and they may end up eating more than they realize as a result. So, take a look at the sizes of your meals. Do you need to eat from a smaller dish at dinner to help you consume fewer calories at night before bed?

It is no secret that attempts to lose the last 5 to 10 pounds can be tedious, but if you know what strategies to implement when you hit this plateau, you will be able to break through and achieve your goals. Just keep eating right every day and exercising throughout the week, but use the tips above to make it easier on yourself until you have reached your ideal weight.